50Hertz awards subsea cables contract for Ostwind 2 grid connection

German transmission system operator 50Hertz has awarded a €300m contract to a consortium, including NKT and Boskalis Subsea Cables & Flexibles, for the Ostwind 2 offshore wind farm grid connection.

Under the contract, the consortium will be responsible for the supply and installation of nearly 270km of 220kV high-voltage AC XLPE offshore export subsea cables system, and approximately 8km of 220kV high-voltage AC XLPE onshore cables system.

NKT will supply the cable system and Boskalis will install it.

NKT interim CEO Roland Andersen said: “I am excited that we book our largest ever AC high-voltage export cable order with the Ostwind 2 project. This award is a recognition from 50Hertz, our customer for years, of our technology and know-how of complex high-voltage offshore projects.

“For NKT, this is the first order where our customer benefits from power cables being manufactured at both our high-voltage plants.”

“For NKT, this is the first order where our customer benefits from power cables being manufactured at both our high-voltage plants. This enables more efficient production planning and more flexible deliveries for our customer.

Manufacturing work on the subsea cables system for Ostwind 2 will be carried out in Karlskrona, Sweden, and Cologne, Germany.

Production of these cable systems is expected to begin in 2020, while Ostwind 2 grid connection will be fully commissioned at the end of 2022.

The wind farms connected through the Ostwind 2 grid connection will be situated nearly 40km northeast of the German Island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea.